Primetime Ratings, Friday, 3/28/14

CBS won the night in all measures via NCAA basketball.

Speaking of which, game one of the night between Tennessee and Michigan drew a healthy 2.3 demo and over 8 million viewers. Game two (featuring a match-up between two Kentucky teams) did even better, rising to a 3.6 demo and over 10 million total viewers.

Over on the Peacock, a two-hour edition of 'Dateline' rose a tenth to a 1.5. Surprisingly enough, 'Hannibal' did a bit better after 'Dateline' then it usually does after 'Grimm.' Everyone's favorite serial murdering cannibal rose one tenth to a 1.0, his best rating since February's season premiere.

After a few weeks off, ABC's 'Last Man Standing' returned to a 1.4, rising one tenth from its last new outing. 'The Neighbors' rose two tenths to a 1.1, its best number since January. Rise aside, I still don't see the Jami Gertz fronted comedy squeaking out another renewal. '20/20' fell four tenths to a 1.4.

FOX's Friday line-up continued whistling past the graveyard, with 'Rake' setting a new all-time low of 0.4 to start the procession off. The last 'Enlisted' episode to air for the foreseeable future (and likely the last to ever air at all, if we're being realistic) also set a new series low of 0.4.

'Kitchen Nightmares' takes over the 9 p.m. timeslot on April 11, and while four more unaired episodes of 'Enlisted' exist, I doubt they'll see the light of day any time soon. Moving on, 'Raising Hope' (which ends its run with a two-part series finale next Friday) bumped up a tenth to a 0.5. Finally, 'Whose Line is it Anyway' dropped a tenth to a 0.5 for The CW,' while 'Hart of Dixie' matched last week's 0.3.

Ok thanks for your explanation. I am in Oz so not familiar with how it works there. but thanks..glad Helix got renewed tho...

msd85 (Global Editor)
Level 39 (91%)Points: 17879.2Since: 07/Jul/10

Message Posted On Mar 31st, 2014, 11:04 pm

I don't do cable ratings for three main reasons Anonymous. 1. Ratings expectations on cable are all over the map, and don't factor into cancellation decisions for cable shows nearly to the point that they do for network shows. There are shows on cable which get renewed year after year that draw the equivalent of a 0.4-0.8 network rating.

2. There are hundreds of cable channels, and thousands of original programs on cable. Doing ratings for them all would be unrealistic. 3. And finally, Nielsen doesn't release detailed reports for cable like they do for broadcast. The only real data that gets released is for which shows make the top 100 rated cable shows each night. Sorry for the lengthy answer, but I figured I'd clarify in case any other readers wonder why I don't cover cable.

Since you asked though, 'Helix' season one averaged between 0.4 and 0.6 in the 18-49 demo, and usually brought in less than 2 million total viewers. One factor working in its favor is that it has a large DVR audience.